HoR resolution backs Ombudsman Morales as impeachment looms

MANILA – With an impeachment complaint poised against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, a resolution has been filed at the House of Representatives to “preserve and protect the constitutional independence and integrity of the Office of the Ombudsman.”

House Resolution No. 1395 filed on October 9 was signed by 26 House members.

In the resolution, the authors stressed that the Office of the Ombudsman was created under the 1987 Constitution to act as an independent body “to serve as protectors of the people against inept, abusive and corrupt in government.”

“The framers of the Constitution intended that these independent bodies be insulated from political pressure to the extent that the absence of independence would result in the impairment of their core functions to shield it from the pressures and influence of officialdom and partisan politics and from fear of external reprisal,” it said.

Since early this year, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) has been threatening Morales with impeachment, but it has yet to be filed formally at the House.